*Please consider adding [email protected] to your address book, which will
ensure that our messages reach you and not your spam box!*

Read and share online: <[link removed]>


Dear Free Software Supporter,

*This year-end, we are putting an emphasis on education and how we can
best secure freedom for generations to come. Our [fundraising goal is
$375,000][1], and we are only 20% away from reaching it! The deadline
is only two days away! We need your support, and any contribution is
valuable. This is a great reason to speak to your neighbors and loved
ones about free software. We need to secure the funds to defend the
[four freedoms][2] *and* educate others about them.*

[1]: [link removed]
[2]: [link removed]

*By [donating][3] to us today, you help secure a free future, one in
which everyone will be able to learn in freedom and will know their
rights as a user. You can also advocate for user freedom by convincing
just one person to [join the Free Software Foundation (FSF)][4]. Any
contribution made before December 31 will count towards achieving our
year-end goal. Below is a message from our president, Geoffrey Knauth,
reflecting on the FSF's mission to protect software users everywhere.*

[3]: [link removed]
[4]: [link removed]

***

Humans have wondered about origins beyond memory, perhaps even before
we had words. In our community of free software activists, the origin
is GNU, a declaration of freedoms that must be guarded. The FSF is the
firmament created to protect and develop the GNU Project, and, these
days, other free software initiatives as well. Today, GNU is the gold
standard of what free software should be: unambiguously devoted to
your computing freedom and rigorously maintained to provide maximum
power and extensibility to users. The purpose of GNU is also to
inspire developers, to educate those who wish to code and create in
the ultimate collaborative project.

These days, much of the world's computers have free software in
it. Some people say, "We have won, we can relax." If only that were
true. The same forces that wanted to take away your freedom are far
more powerful today than they were forty years ago. People put their
software where they think it will be safe, only to discover that some
processes of corporatization and capitalization make those places less
safe, less permanent, less owned by you and more an "asset" of a
corporation that is not you. In the worst cases, your code that *was*
free gets morphed into software that is ultimately not free.

More than a half century ago, a number of dystopian novels warned us
against what the world might become if we did not appreciate our
freedoms. Ask yourself if now many of those authors' worst fears have
not become reality for billions of people around the world. Many of
today's rulers seem preoccupied with taking away freedoms you have
enjoyed. Wealth for some is often collected by creating scarcity for
many, especially when that scarcity had not existed before. Many
rulers seek to make freedom itself a scarcity too. Is that the world
you want?

The FSF exists to protect your freedoms in the realm of computing.
Given that computing is so much more a part of our lives than ever, it
is vitally important that you consider how you can help. I'm sure that
far more than 375,000 persons have benefited from free software. The
real number is likely orders of magnitude more.

If only 375,000 persons gave one dollar, we would meet this year's
fundraising goal, and it would maintain the organization and its very
dedicated staff, who work exclusively to protect your computing
freedom. The staff is fantastic. I am so proud of their energy and
commitment. The GNU maintainers and volunteers, too, are endlessly
dedicated and generous with their time and creativity. There are so
many freedom-respecting projects that need funding. If you don't have
a dollar, then think of something else you can do. Write an essay
about a freedom you are worried you might lose. Write about the world
you would like to see.

Don't allow the world to become the dystopian nightmare, imposed *on*
you, that some few would like it to be. Give of yourselves *for* the
world you want, and that gift will come back to you and those who
follow after you.

Be well and be free,

Geoff Knauth
President

--
Interested in helping us expand our reach?

* Follow us on Mastodon at <[link removed]> and PeerTube at <[link removed]>, showing your support for federated social networks.
* Get active on the LibrePlanet wiki: <[link removed]>
* Share on your blog or [social network]([link removed]) that you support us, and why you do so.
* Subscribe to our RSS feeds: <[link removed]>
* Join us as an associate member: <[link removed]>; and display your membership button (<[link removed]>) on your website.

Read our Privacy Policy: <[link removed]>

Sent from the Free Software Foundation,

51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor
Boston, Massachusetts 02110-1335
United States


You can unsubscribe from this mailing list by visiting

[link removed].

To stop all email from the Free Software Foundation, including Defective by Design,
and the Free Software Supporter newsletter, visit

[link removed].